The girl group - who were signed to Syco after winning reality TV show 'The X Factor' in 2011 - have parted ways with the label after a row between Syco and their management company Modest.

A Syco spokesperson told The Sun: ''Syco Music will no longer work with Modest Management and therefore any artists signed to that management company.

''We do, of course, wish all artists affected by this decision every future success. Consequently, LM5, the forthcoming Little Mix album A&R'd and released on Syco Music, is to be serviced by RCA at the request of Syco and Simon Cowell.''

The split is shocking as it comes just before the release of Little Mix's eagerly anticipated album 'LM5'.

The group are staying within the Sony family and will move to RCA.

Jesy Nelson hinted at turmoil with Syco when she liked an Instagram post, which read: '' ''They're gonna leave Syco and then tell us what s**t Syco put them through.''

Meanwhile, the band have teamed up with songwriters including Ed Sheeran, Jess Glynne and Timberland on the new album.

Jade Thirlwall recently revealed they wrote 'Woman's World' as a direct response to the scandal surrounding Hollywood.

She said: ''So we wrote this song when the whole #MeToo movement was coming about. You know ... I was so angry about what was going on. It was important to write it with [producer Jez Ashurst], who's a man. It holds an important message.''

And the singer said the girl group haven't written anything ''that's too controversial'' yet but are starting to be increasingly ''more honest'' in their songs.

She added: ''We haven't written anything that's too controversial before, and now we're starting to write things that are slightly more honest. We want to be a bit more ballsy and say, 'yeah, it is hard to be a woman.'''